Our 2016-2017 Interns

For the last eight months, the Milbank Memorial Fund has had two interns from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Both Catarina Abreu and Matthew Silverstein earned their MPH in Health Policy and Management in May.

Matthew helped staff several Reforming States group projects during his time at the Fund and served as a research assistant on various issues. He was recently hired as special assistant to the Assistant Commissioner of the Primary Care Information Project at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. About the internship, Matthew said, “The staff at the Fund were incredible mentors and extremely knowledgeable. My internship experience is one I could not have gotten in any other setting—working at the Fund provided a unique vantage point for viewing nationwide health policy issues.”

Catarina assisted Lisa Dulsky Watkins, director of the Fund’s Multi-State Collaborative, and the start-up work with the new Comprehensive Primary Care Plus project.  About the internship, Catarina said, “It is very dynamic—every day there is something new to learn. In particular, supporting the Fund’s work in primary care transformation taught me a lot about value-based systems and the impact that collaboratives among payers can have on the quality of delivered services and their potential to benefit population health.” Catarina is continuing at the Fund through the summer while she considers several job opportunities.

“Our internship is designed to provide graduate students with real work experience in state health policy,” said Trina Gonzalez, program officer at the Fund. “Like the interns before them, Matthew and Catarina made valuable contributions to our work with the Reforming States Group and the Multi-State Collaborative. Their efforts are reflected in the ultimate compliment—the recognition of their work by our colleagues.”